Nepal's government said it was deploying armed escorts for trucks carrying food into Kathmandu as fresh demonstrations broke out yesterday in the capital, besieged by a general strike called to demand a return to democracy following the king's seizure of power.
The royal government also offered cash incentives to drivers who defy the strike in Kathmandu, where supplies of essential items were running low.
The general strike, organized by opposition political parties since April 6, has forced most vehicles off the highways and kept markets closed in many cities across the country.
King Gyanendra fired the democratic government and seized power in February last year, saying he needed control to restore political order and end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade.
The communist rebels are now backing a campaign, launched by a coalition of the country's major political parties, for a return to democracy. Many fear that breaking the strike would draw reprisals from the guerrillas.
"We will provide armed escorts to trucks transporting essential goods to Kathmandu," Dipendra Thapa, secretary at the ministry of works and transport, said yesterday.
The government also announced a 3,500 rupees (US$48) incentive payment for truck drivers who break the strike and haul food, fuel and other essentials on Nepal's highways, the only means of transportation in much of the country.
Also yesterday, the government forced several Kathmandu service stations to open and distribute rationed gasoline and diesel.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators defied a government ban on protests in Kathmandu, with hundreds marching in at least four parts of the city, many chanting anti-government slogans.
About 2,000 more were heading toward Kathmandu from the city's eastern farming suburb of Bhaktapur. Clerks and other workers at the city's supreme court walked out of their offices and demonstrated outside.
"We are here to join to show our support for the ongoing movement for democracy," said court clerk Janardan Purush Dhakal, who was leading the protest.
Police and protesters had clashed in the city a day earlier, as tens of thousands of angry Nepalis took to the streets across the country to demand a return to democracy.
The demonstrations were the largest since opponents of Gyanendra's royal dictatorship began a major protest campaign and nationwide strike that has halted vital transport and paralyzed major cities for the past 11 days.
An opposition coalition has appealed to Nepalis to support the campaign by not paying taxes, customs duties, interest on loans from state banks and payments to government utilities. The prices for what few vegetables can be found in Kathmandu's markets have risen fivefold during the strike. Chicken and mutton prices have doubled.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS